Mass Media Wall of Fame to Install a Pair of Honorees on May 1

Two men who favorably impacted the lives of mass communications students at Amarillo College will be added to the prestigious Matney Mass Media Wall of Fame on May 1.

David Coons, a broadcast engineer at AC from 1975 to 2010, and Jerry Webb, a former director of student publications at AC—he’s widely recognized for his sports broadcasting—will be honored during a ceremony from 2-3 p.m. in Parcells Hall, Room 214, on the Washington Street Campus.

The Wall of Fame honors former students who have been successful in the media and others who have made significant contributions to the Matney Mass Media Program.

This year’s ceremony will bring the total number of Wall of Fame honorees to 14. Their portraits and biographical information are displayed in the hallway on the second floor of Parcells Hall.

 Coons, a broadcast engineer for AC’s radio-TV academic department for 35 years, earned his associate degree at the College in 1963. He helped produce local programs on AC’s cable TV channel, often from remote locations such as the Amarillo Civic Center and Palo Duro Canyon.

He was named AC’s Classified Employee of the Year in 1997, and he was inducted in 2004 into the Texas Panhandle Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

Webb served as director of AC student publications from 1972-1978, following a brief stint as regional news director for both television and radio with KGNC. While at AC, he was deeply involved in the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association, for which he served as president in 1976.

He spent four decades doing play-by-play and color announcing for more than 1,300 high school and college sporting events—1972-2012—and in 1993 he was inducted into the Palo Duro (High School) Don Hall of Fame. He also played Santa Claus for more than 30 years at the AC Bookstore.

Following are the Wall of Fame honorees to date (in order of inclusion):

  • Beth Duke, former city editor of the Amarillo Globe-News and 2010 winner of AC’s Distinguished Alumni Award;
  • Kari Fluegel, who worked in media relations for NASA;
  • Ben Sargent, a Pulitzer-winning cartoonist and AC’s Distinguished Alumnus in 1993;
  • Mike Stravato, a freelance photographer for the Associated Press;
  • Thomas Thompson, former editor in charge of Pulitzer-winning coverage at the Amarillo Globe-Times;
  • Jason Boyett, author of several books and an award-winning advertising copywriter and designer;
  • Nancy Crowley, the late, longtime journalism teacher at AC, Amarillo High and Tascosa High;
  • Walt Howard, longtime news anchor for KFDA-TV, Channel 10;
  • Brad Loper, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer for The Dallas Morning News;
  • Jamey Neill, also known as Jamey Karr on the air, former program director at KACV-FM and presently general manager of The Eagle;
  • Robert Wylie, posthumously, a Piper Professor who taught journalism and English at AC for three decades; and
  • Don Ford, a longtime director of engineering for AC’s radio station, an entity he helped establish in 1976, and for AC’s PBS television station—now called Panhandle PBS.

 

April 23, 2015